


Simplicity is hard to come by these days

by Ameliwrites



Category: Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: And she's Tony's friend, Anxiety Disorder, BAMF May Parker, BAMF Tony Stark, Idk what to make of Team Cap, May Parker is alive, Maybe - Freeform, PTSD, Peter Needs a Hug, Team Iron Man needs a hug, The major character death doesn't last, Tony Needs a Hug, at first, not team Cap friendly
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-06-10
Updated: 2018-07-19
Packaged: 2019-05-20 10:53:55
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,823
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14893277
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ameliwrites/pseuds/Ameliwrites
Summary: They say a soul for a soul right?** Major Infinity War Spoilers





	1. Five years doesn't seem like much in the long run

_They say a soul for a soul right?_

They had beaten Thanos.  
After blood, sweat, tears, and unlikely teammates, they had finally done it. 

People who had disappeared began to come back in waves, starting off as merely three or so individuals appearing every few hours until hundreds of thousands of people began appearing in random places.

There had been tons of crazy stories in the news as it seemed that people returned in the same spot they had disappeared. Stories of people appearing in busy streets made governments shut down their roads for days, and articles of children and adults alike falling from the sky had people on edge and making thousands of precautions so ensure that no one died. Again.

The fallen heros had returned as well and that’s where Iron Man had found himself.

Tony was standing in the open field of Wakanda, watching as the Guardians as well as Doctor Strange stepped off of the battered ship from TITAN. They (Quill, Mantis, Drax, Strange, and some green-skinned woman) were nursing wounds and looking around the place as if they didn’t quite believe it was all real.

Tony’s heart had stopped as the door closed and he failed to see a familiar mop of brown hair. His lips had fallen into a frown and his heart had picked up speed. 

He found himself running up to the group, eyes filled with raw hope that was quickly shut down.

The first thing Strange had said was sorry.

“He just never showed up Tony. We waited and I looked through at least a thousand different timelines. He never appeared.”

Strange’s face was set into a practiced kind of sorrow. The type of sympathy doctors showed you when they had to report to families that their loved one hadn’t made it through the surgery. 

Tony felt his world shatter.

He looked around.

He saw Steve hovering over Bucky with the expression of a kicked puppy and a relieved mother. It was a weird combination.

T’Challa was a few feet away from them, his armed wrapped around Shuri as she sobbed openly and buried her face in the crook of his neck. 

Hell, even Thor was openly crying as Loki, yes Loki, stood beside him, twitching every now and then as if he were internally battling himself with how to comfort someone like Thor. He settled with patting him on the shoulder and fixing him with an intense green stare that screamed of untold stories.

Tony felt his hands shake and he felt Rhodey walk up behind him, “I’m sure he’ll pop up somewhere. Kid’s always surprising you, right?”

He never did.

Five years passed and Tony buried himself in work.

He fought against the senate for a full year to have the Rouge Avengers pardoned despite not being able to stand being in the same room as them, and all while creating a form of communication that could work in space. 

He spoke with the Guardians constantly, asking if they had gotten anything on Peter (as they had promised to keep him updated as they checked for Peter every few days). 

After the second year, they had stopped calling and their connection had been cut.

Tony stopped trying to get their attention

Tony had worked constantly on his suits once more until Pepper had sat him down and declared that they were better off as friends.

Tony had agreed. He didn’t want to tie her down to the problems that he had thought he had gotten over.

True to her word, she had climbed her way up from being the awkward ex-fiance to the person he went to after the days where he couldn’t bring himself to do anything but cry.

On the third year, he had went to May Parker. 

They hadn’t seen each other after Tony had broken the news to her that Peter didn’t come back. 

He had promptly broken down the second he saw the same understanding gleam that Peter had to his eyes in hers and they had slowly formed a friendship on the foundations of the best moments that had with Peter.

Tony’s life slowly got better.

He still made more suits (Half of which were new Spiderman suits, some made of Vibranium while others were much like his own), but he had gotten better.

He had stopped drinking with the help of May, Pepper, Rhodey, and Happy, and had gotten to the point of personally forgiving James Barnes for his actions.

He never stopped looking for Peter, though.

Tony never once stopped looking. 

He spent most nights, studying all the information everyone had gathered on the Infinity Stones, particularly the Soul Stone, which to no one’s surprise, wasn’t a lot to go on.

Tony had opened a new subsection to Stark Industries. 

For Space Travel of all things, and had succeeded in launching a satellite to orbit around TITAN, sustained by a mixture of human technology and magic via Loki, whom had somehow become another unlikely friend.

On the fourth year, Tony had suffered a heart attack.

It was something that had been a long time coming. The nightmares, anxiety, and countless sleepless nights had made sure of that. 

It was the final push that Tony had needed before he had pumped his own version of Extremis into his system.

-

_“You sure you want to do this, Stark?”_

_Loki had been that only one whom Tony had talked about this to._

_Rhodey, Pepper, and most likely Happy would’ve tried to talk him out of it; would’ve tried to say there was another way._

_May wouldn’t of said anything, but her eyes would’ve given away her fears and Tony couldn’t place that weight on her shoulders. Not after Peter._

_That left Loki._

_He was someone who knew when something had to be done, and he was the least likely to fight him on this._

_“I’m sure, Reindeer games.”_

_Tony leaned back and closed his eyes, fingers clenching and unclenching as he prepared himself for the pain that he was sure he’d be subject to._

_He reminded himself that he was doing this for everyone he cared about; for everyone who cared about him._

_He felt the needle slide into his vein and took a deep breath._

_For Peter._

-

After Extremis, Tony had taken time to look around himself.

He took a second to notice the people who stuck beside him, who didn’t use him, didn’t expect anything of him, and genuinely cared. 

He opened his eyes to his new family and for the first time in four years, he felt the empty place in his chest fill up with warmth.

Through hardships, he had found a family, and he wouldn’t fail them this time.

-

On the fifth year, he had fallen into a rhythm.

It was comfortable, safe, and everything he would have wished for had he been given a chance in the past.

Nothing could take away what he had built for himself. 

Nothing could shake him anymore.

At least that’s what he had thought before F.R.I.D.A.Y had woken him up in the middle of the night with news of an intruder in his lab.

Tony’s heart had dropped to his stomach and he had summoned a gauntlet to him in record time. 

He had crept down the hall and down the stairs to his lab only to freeze once he got to the glass windows.

He ordered F.R.I.D.A.Y to turn on the lights and his breath had stopped at what, or rather who, he saw.

In the center of the lab stood Peter Parker, still clad in his the Iron Spider suit, with his pupils blown wide with the type of fear that could only be experienced through loss and torture.

His forehead was caked in dried blood and his cheeks flushed and streaked with tears.

Peter’s knees shook as he brought his gaze up to Tony, mouthing a name that made Tony’s blood freeze in his veins, before his eyes rolled back in his head and he passed out.

_”Thanos”_


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Writings hard  
> Anyways after a while there's a chapter that's kind of acting as a bridge chapter to lead to the next one which is why it's kind of short.  
> I could've made it a bit more than it would but I felt like it should end on here so the next chapter could flow a bit better.

F.R.I.D.A.Y had taken it upon herself to alert all occupants of the tower up the second Peter uttered the name _Thanos_

She had instructed everyone to go to the living room in the penthouse where Tony had half dragged, half carried Peter to the couch. 

May had arrived first, as she one, shared the floor with Tony, and two, hadn’t been sleeping at all despite how early it was. She was dressed in a simple pair of pajamas, that in reality were just an old pair of sweats that she refused to let Tony replace and a science tee she picked up from the thrift store (Peter would have liked it). She was tugging a hand through her hair when she emerged from the hall and when she saw her nephew on the couch she nearly fell to her knees. 

She made a sound between shock and a whimper and she finally noticed Tony when he shot up from the seat across from him. He looked pale and his eyes were red.

“I-Is that-”

Her hand shot to her mouth when Tony nodded and she rushed forward to Peter. ‘He looks the same age as when he left’, she thought.   
She felt tears sting her eyes. He hadn’t changed.   
She flinched when she noticed the blood on his forehead and the bags under his eyes. She felt her heart break.

The rest of the Avengers arrived a few minutes after her revelation, as Tony had put them on floors much further from the Penthouse when they had moved in. (He had claimed the other four were still stocked with old projects and dangerous energy. No one had believed him, but they didn’t argue either). 

Their reactions were mixed. 

Rhodey had stumbled over both his words and his feet when he saw the kid. He was in what he had been sleeping in, which was some grey sweats and a white tee. The braces looked as if they had been put on hastily. 

His heart stopped when he really digested what he was seeing.  
The two had bonded over teasing Tony and to see him after five years in this state made a weight flip in his stomach. Despite him being in bad shape, he felt the smallest flutter of happiness in his chest as he remembered his words five years ago to Tony. The kid always did manage to surprise them. 

Vision, who they had succeeded in bringing back with the help of Dr. Strange and the time stone, looked openly shocked and relieved. Underneath the emotion though was worry. What exactly had brought Peter back when he had been gone for five whole years? 

The ‘rogues’ (If they could even be called that anymore as they had been completely free for three years) had been strictly confused, save for Natasha.   
Of course, they all knew that Spiderman had never reappeared after Thanos, Tony had explained that much, albeit with the barest amount of information he could manage and only after they had inquired about him coming along on a few missions. 

This was the first time any of the ‘Rogues’ were seeing Spiderman without his mask and it made their stomachs squeeze. Tony hadn’t mentioned an identity when it had come up, and he explicitly hadn’t revealed an age.

He had just mumbled the information to them and after the fourth year since Thanos, he had invited a woman named May to live with them with no context a month later. The team just decided that that was Tony’s new girl after Pepper (seeing how she was in the penthouse with him and Pepper and Tony had broken things between them after Thanos) and no one questioned it.

So when they saw Spiderman, sitting there, with blood on his surprisingly young looking face and May, who probably shouldn’t even know him, crouched down beside him with tears in her eyes they had looked straight at Tony with a mixture of both shock and confusion.

Natasha looked as if she was gearing herself up for a fight.

Silence stretched out for a full minute before Clint opened his mouth.

“What the hell is going on? I thought Spiderman was dead.”

Everyone saw both Tony _and_ May flinch at that, and some even tensed at the way the words sounded. They were harsh, but then again it was four in the morning and nothing had been explained by F.R.I.D.A.Y when she woke them up. The AI had simply told them that an emergency was happening in the penthouse and that they needed to be there quickly.

Tony was pinching the bridge of his nose as he looked at the kid. His voice sounded thick,  
“I had thought the same thing until he suddenly appeared in my lab.” 

Natasha hummed and pulled her eyes away from the kid and May, “And why did you have F.R.I.D.A.Y alert us?”

Sam raised a brow, “Well, some kid shows up outta nowhere after five years, I’d call the whole team too.”

Natasha shook her head at his words, her gaze hardening, “There’s something else other than him just showing up.” Tony wasn’t surprised that she could easily see that there was more to the story.

Tony’s squeezed his eyes shut and took a breath before he opened them. His gaze was stuck on Peter, or rather the haunted look that he still saw the remnants of. He looked as if he didn’t want to say anymore on the subject but continued.

“When he saw me, the first thing he said was Thanos. He looked as if he was trying to warn me,” Tony cursed, “It’s like we can’t get rid of that bastard for good.”

Everyone tensed.

Steve was one of the few who showed up in his full uniform, weapons on his arms and everything (Tony wondered if he slept in his clothes sometimes with how fast he always seemed to be ready) and he stepped forward when he heard that, shield shining in the light. His eyes were on fire and he looked back and forth from Peter to Tony, “Thanos is back?” 

He sounded on edge.

Tony could only shrug.   
In reality, he didn’t want to think of that being true. The first time they had beaten Thanos was a nightmare and after having to reverse time and relive it a second time was even worse. The thought of him coming back made Tony’s heart race.   
He regretted having called up everyone but Rhodey, Vision, and May as he felt his heart speed up. He did what he did best and tried to act as if it were impossible, “We don’t know for sure. We have to wait for him to wake up before we know for sure.”

_If he wakes up, you mean._

Tony pushed the thought far far away and instead focused his attention back to Peter.

As he did so, the familiar swirl of orange sparked in the room and both Strange and Loki stepped through the portal. They looked as if they expected this (Though it was no surprise as both people seemed to have a thing for knowing when something would happen).

They were both dressed in their form of normal, so there was at least that small sliver of assurance. Loki, at least, would’ve walked in with his armor on if something was about to end in a fight.

“You don’t look that surprised to see him here, Stephanie.”

Tony’s voice was rough despite the obvious attempt to lighten the mood. 

Stephan hummed, though his eyes were locked on Peter, “I saw the possibility a few weeks back. It was highly unlikely, so I didn’t want to get your hopes up by telling you.”

Tony’s hands clenched and he heard May make a sound of indignation.

He opened his mouth to speak, but May beat him to it. Her eyes were blazing as her attention finally snapped away from Peter and up to the sorcerer, “Unlikely or not, Tony and I deserved to know.” She hissed the words out and out of the corner of his eye, Tony saw Clint raise a brow at May’s insistence. 

Loki shrugged, “What you deserved to know is now the past, and I think it’d be best if we focused on the matter in front of us. Thanos has apparently come to haunt us if the child's words are anything to go by.”

May’s expression twisted and Tony found himself placing a hand on her shoulder in silent support. He had his own frown on his face as he mulled over the possibility of another attack. 

“Well,” He cleared his throat, taking a look at all the individuals in the room, save for May, “I suppose we suit up.”

**Author's Note:**

> I'm super excited to write this.  
> I'm going to work on pacing myself with my writing with this story and I have a bunch of ideas as of now on how to make this flow smoothly. Everyone's in for a ride.
> 
> So this basically came from when I was wondering what if Peter had survived instead of Aunt May, but then I got tired of Aunt May always dying in stories (even though I'm currently writing one that revolves around her death) and this ended up happening.
> 
> Anyways, comment your thoughts.  
> Should I continue this? Are there any mistakes I missed?


End file.
